Busy working…

Hats off to H&R Block

To a Brit, H&R Block are an unfamiliar entity. Only really visible between January and April, H&R Block ‘stores’ pop up in malls, in bleak looking offices inside Sears and by gas stations and are supported by huge TV campaigns.

For those who don’t know (and I had no idea), they are tax specialists.

Everyone working in the US is legally obliged to submit a tax return to the IRS every year for the preceding calendar year.

So for my first experience at filing a federal tax return I visited my local H&R Block. Being a slightly unusual case – legal non-resident alien (or whatever I am) – meant that additional form filling was required by my tax advisor Bruce. But we got there in the end. Or thought we had.

Six weeks after filing the return I received a letter from the IRS telling me it had been rejected. After speaking to Bruce, we filed again. Six weeks later, another rejection letter arrived with no explanation.

Now I was due a pretty hefty rebate and the delays were proving annoying to say the least.

Having failed to get any help from the local office, which had returned to a dormant off season state, I contacted H&R Block on Twitter. They were back to me inside 12 hours and before long I was in regular phone contact with Britney who has played a blinder in resolving my issues – a nice compensation cheque is on it’s way 🙂

So, a first hand example of how a huge business has utilised social media tools to help me directly.